The actor, who won an Oscar for his performance as Hannibal Lecter in 1991 film Silence of the Lambs, insisted that he refused to let success get the best of him because he witnessed too many careers ruined by it.

Speaking to Parade, the 72-year-old said: "I think you have to be sure every time you get out of bed to be grateful for another day. There are no guarantees. I used to have a fear of failure when I was young. You can't live with that. Nor can you live with an insatiable desire for success because that's just as bad and as crippling. That's toxic.

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"I may have won an Oscar and been knighted, but I still have to look in the shaving mirror in the morning and see the same old face there. So it doesn't change your life that much."